Rate the race: 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

F1 Fanatic holds polls on each race to find out which fans thought of every race during the season.

Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (2%)
  • 9 (1%)
  • 8 (4%)
  • 7 (19%)
  • 6 (23%)
  • 5 (23%)
  • 4 (11%)
  • 3 (7%)
  • 2 (5%)
  • 1 (5%)

Total Voters: 442

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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137 comments on “Rate the race: 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix”

  1. Lap 1 was alright, 2-55 not so much.

    1. Start laps were very nice. That’s about it.

    2. Completely agree. Seeing lap 1 onboard from every car on the circuit would have been more interesting than watching the rest of the race.

      Gave it a 5/10. No excitement for the podium spots. Vettel carving through the field ended up being very boring. All overtakes were DRS passes, except for two (!). No safety car either to spice things up.

  2. Meh, 3/10

  3. A rubbish end to a rubbish season. I’ve never been so pleased to see the end of the calendar. Bar a few highlights, utterly dismal.

  4. Sums up the season really.

    1. A boring end to a boring season !!! Nothing more, Nothing less I guess.

      1. how very very true

  5. It want a bad race, a lot better than Brazil to be honest. I’ll give it a 7. We had good battles all the way round, but still DRS was horrible.

    1. Wasn’t*

  6. Solid 7/10, I really enjoyed that to be honest. Not the best race but it was alright to watch.

    1. Agree with that. Lovely first lap, many battles through the field all race and a bit of tension at the front as well, even though in the end it did not come to a close on track fight

      1. I’d also agreed with that @bascb, @strontium, though I am getting somewhat tired of another fight for the win that never really got somewhere – would like to see something like Bahrain 2014 back; though Massa thought the race was boring, I saw the group around him be in a tense battle through much of the race.

    2. The most enjoyable part was the start laps, and the second most enjoyable part was James Allison confessing to the howler they did yesterday. There wasn’t a third point.

    3. I really don’t get this @strontium. Yes there were battles, but only behind the top 6 and the only overtakes we saw were DRS passes. I can’t get too much excited about that.

  7. A fittingly dull race to round out the season.

  8. A very entertaining race. If you’re a half-German, half-Finnish Monaco resident. Otherwise the entertainment was largely related to strategy discussions and the battle for what were once non-points paying positions.

  9. 6/10. An average 2015 race

  10. A few highway DRS passes + Typical procession + Uncompetitive front runners = F1 2015. Sorry Abu Dhabi, but your pretty fireworks and flashing lights doesn’t cover up the fact that your track is absolutely god awful

    3/10, lets pray for improvement next year

  11. Another predictable result made even more predictable when the team decided to take away driver free will and make sure they stopped their cars from racing even though they’ve already secured both titles.

    I really hope this is not the sign of future otherwise we might as well just be watching Scalextric.

    1. Sorry @tommyb89 but where did the team decide to take away anything fron the driver there? Mercedes did give the choice to Hamilton!

      1. Did you hear the radio, they really did not. Don’t be taken in.

        1. Well, neil, you do know that we do not hear all of the radio calls right? If the team goes out and tell all the present media that they did indeed give Hamilton the choice at that moment, do you really want to claim they are not telling the truth?
          That is just nonsense. Did you listen to Hamilton in the press conference? He would have certainly mentioned it if he felt his team had treated him unfair.

          1. What ever could, would, should of happened is irrelivant the fact remains Hamilton was closing on rosberg and they changed the strategy so that the cars would stay away from each other on track. End off.

          2. I do think Merc could have done more to encourage chances of a real fight, and steadfastly didn’t do that. But I am actually more worried that it seems there just wasn’t much of a chance of that. Earlier in the year I was often disappointed that ROS didn’t really take the fight to HAM, though being not too far behind him all the race. Now in the last few races we have seen attempts from HAM to try and make it a fight, but showing it wasn’t working. So in the end, might ROS earlier in the year have been sensible to not even try – I find that too ‘sensible’ but it does seem that Merc. likes that if it gives them another 1-2. So I have to hope Ferrari are a lot closer, and ROS starts the year better so we have less one-river winning streaks.

      2. I think it was that bit where Hamilton said he wanted to stay out and then they basically told him he couldn’t.

        1. Because the tyres wouldn’t have lasted.

    2. Can someone remind me where these comments were when Rosberg was asking for different strategies?

      No?

      Anyone?!

      1. Explain this duty to me.

  12. Fairly boring race after the start. Don’t understand where Lewis Hamilton pace has gone. Nico seems to be much faster on race pace

  13. I would like to hear the radio messages between Lewis and Peter. I was surprised that they put Lewis on primes instead of options… Unless Lewis decided it himself. Vettel was able to still maintain his laptimes until the end on options. At least, better than Brazil… 7/10

    1. @krichelle From what I heard Hamilton never queried the decision to go with softs. On Friday he couldn’t make the super-softs last.

      1. Who’s decision was it to not pit Hamilton straight after Rosberg? Because Hamilton was almost 7sec back and caught to 1.004 secs behind when Rosberg pitted. That other strategy was never going to work.

        1. This exactly. Either he tried to make the tyres last to the end, which would be a stern challenge, or they could have pitted Lewis right after Nico’s stop.
          That is not controlling the gap if you were Nico, letting Hamilton get into drs range was not controlling the gap in this track. One more lap and Nico could have lost position. Before Nico pitted, Lewis got into drs range.
          Quite a number of track limits here, especially during the first laps… Button with Verstappen later was a bit of entertainment…

        2. yes Jayd, at that moment it looked pretty much that Rosberg had no tyre life left and needed to pit and Hamilton might have a shot at gaining by going longer and even at stretching that stint to go for supersofts. As far as I heard it was between Hamilton and his engineer to try this.

          1. My point is Hamilton was one or two laps away from over taking nico and this track is different to the last two. He should of pitted on the next lap and gone to the end doing the same as what they have the last two races. Doing what they did was a non existant strategy if you are aware of the circumstances (super soft life on hamiltons car, new soft vs old soft)

    2. @krichelle @keithcollantine Also remember that Hamilton did not have a set of fresh super-softs, so I don’t think they ever considered it as an option. https://twitter.com/pirellisport/status/670605818568527872

      1. @guilherme)

        Yup, I know he didn’t have a fresh set of options. But he could have at least tried it. Or they could have pitted him just after Nico’s stop. Whether the decision was his or by his team, that completely ruined a battle that would have spiced up the race.

        1. Knowing that he didn’t have a new set of supersofts then why did they keep him out so long for nico to eat away the gap after nico’s stop? Lewis was never going to last to the end of the race on that set and a new set of softs aren’t THAT much faster than used softs to bring down a 12 sec gap after his stop with about 10 laps to go. Smh Mercedes

          1. They want to protect Rosbergs win, that is the only thing that makes sense. Nothing else does.
            If some one does think the strategy did make sense, then please explain it to me

          2. They want to protect Rosbergs win, that is the only thing that makes sense. Nothing else does.

            It’s nice to be able to selectively ignore what you don’t like, isn’t it? That way you can ignore all the discussion Hamilton had with the team about when to pit and claim Merc are being evil to your favourite driver.

        2. And what would you have said if Mercedes had stopped Hamilton when he was looking like having quite a bit of tyre life left (catching Rosberg quickly in a few laps) when Rosberg pitted @krichelle?

          As the team stated, Hamilton and his engineer were the ones discussing their options together and they wanted to go and have a try at stretching the stint to try and have a go at Rosberg.

          1. If they stopped him exactly after Nico had pitted, then fine, that would have put him within 1-3 seconds of Nico. Fine, this would have given us a race, probably, until the end. This is the safer option since the prime tyres last more than 15 laps. If they stopped him at lap 40-42, everyone would think, options on until the end. However, 13 laps on the supersofts is a long stint for Hamilton. But since both championships are decided, and the threat of Kimi (3rd place), long way behind, why not try it? This is the riskier option for them. Mercedes wanted a spectacle for the end of the season, and they blew it. Not saying that there is any favouritism to Nico because that would be stupid in my part, but strategy in Mercedes needs a look because Ferrari have great strategists, and if next year they continue having a hard time on the strategies, Ferrari could get them…

          2. Ferrari have great strategists

            You mean the strategists that cost Seb a place in Q2?

        3. This whole thread here is just circular reasoning. If they pit Hamilton one lap after Rosberg, and he ends up not winning, then people say, they should have left hime out. If Hamilton stays out and is losing 1.6 second or more a lap and ends up behind Raikkonen, then Mercedes should have pitted him. If he goes on the Options and they don’t last, then it’s Merc should have put him on the primes, etc.

          The truth is, Hamilton’s chance of winning the race was near to zero no matter what. People need to stop using that fact that Hamilton didn’t win as proof that Mercedes wanted Rosberg to win or they gave him the suboptimal strategy.

          Rosberg is as fast as Hamilton, got on pole and nailed the start. If the situation was reversed no one would be saying that Mercedes favored Hamilton over Rosberg (they’d be saying, well Rosberg needs to get on Pole, etc.)

          1. No that’s not the case as each race weekend should be looked at individually and not as one. The best thing they could of done today was to keep the same strategy as he was faster on the softs and the other strategy wasn’t even a legit one unless there was a safety car. (can explain if needed) you can follow and overtake on this track and you can’t as easily on the others stop making random connections to make your point putting other people down sound valid. No one is saying mercy cleansed novo to win the truth is although not fact still quite obvious Mercedes couldn’t care less who wins. They have a commercial agenda and want the 1-2 year order is irrelevant to them.

    3. I am really confused about the Merc/Ham situation. Whoever made that call messed up, and I haven’t heard a satisfactory explanation from either Hamilton or the team.

      I could see the potential benefit keeping Hamilton out a little longer, but keeping him out so long was strange. Had he pitted and got back out within 5s (so, IIRC, 3-5 laps after Nico), he would have had fresher tyres and still the chance to attack. The other option was going to supersofts pitting when he did, although that would have been a big risk (especially as he didn’t have a new set). Staying out till the end was never really an option, no matter what Ham said. He said he was pushing, and even so he was loosing up to 1.5s/lap, so Nico would have passed him by the end.

      Were I a believer of conspiracies, I would think that Merc were trying a “told you so” on Hamilton: They gave him a purposely compromised alternative strategy to teach him that the team knows best, and to do as he was told next time. I don’t believe they would actually do that, though. In the end, it was just a really strange situation that I would like to understand.

  14. Honestly, 2. Felt no excitement at all after lap 2. Not even the overtakes in the midfield were that exciting.

    Mercedes fixed that.

  15. boring drs fest 2/10.

  16. 6/10. Not great, but better than most of the rubbish this season.

  17. 8/10. A spectacular start then it faded off a bit but there was lots of overtakes and wheel to wheel racing and best of all it felt like everyone was pushing hard for the last race.

    Abu Dhabi might not be technically the best track but it has a great atmosphere and they put on a great show.

    It’s been another good year of racing and I’ve enjoyed every bit of F1 this year especially on this site so thanks to @keithcollantine and everyone who comments.

  18. Gave it a 7. Lots of good racing. At least at this awful track the DRS saves the day. Otherwise it would be a 4 or less. But DRS allowed for some interesting switch back battles that I enjoyed. Still, F1 should get rid both of DRS and Abu Dhabi pronto. Won’t happen of course

  19. Even though this race was pretty much a standard boring 2015 GP, I was modestly entertained and enjoyed it. Maybe my expectations were so low that I actually liked it more than I should have, but I gave it a 6/10 as it was a pretty solid way to end the season.

  20. 2/10

    Fitting end to the season

  21. 4/10. It was a typical 2015 race. A battle between Rosberg and Hamilton looked possible but never materialized, no one else could even come close to Mercedes and Ferrari were comfortably the best of the rest. There were a couple of interesting battles at the back but most passes there were rather predictable because of the DRS. Let’s hope the 2016 season is going to be a good one, this one was pretty average.

  22. 5/10

    Okay race, but what kill it for me (obviously) was Hamilton strategy. Why hanging him out that long if in the end they gonna fit another soft, especially when they hold him that long into super-soft window (with the obvious consequence that Rosberg going much faster at that time). At that point, even if Hamilton destroy his super soft quickly on practice, its a much better gamble than asking him to close 13 second gap in 13 laps on same tire (albeit 10 laps younger) in the same car and that assuming he wont have any problem passing Rosberg if he did managed to catch up. Not to mention the track already rubbered in and the temperature is lower than Friday practice which will obviously help him to preserve the tire. Hindsight also shown how no driver have problem on preserving the super soft on last stint too.

    1. Because Hamilton would not have been able to make (used) softs last long enough @sonicslv. Just look at how he did on those tyres in the first stint (he lost quite a bit to Rosbeg) and on friday. Vettel could make his last because the Ferrari was better (relatively) on the supersofts and he had a new set left because of going out early in qaulifying.

      1. @bascb Yes, I know his form on super-soft is bad compared to Rosberg, but since Mercedes hold him out that long, its much better gamble to put him in it. Remember on first stint, the car is heavy and they both on supersoft. On last stint, it will be supersoft versus soft in much lighter car, which should put advantage to Hamilton and justified why he let Rosberg basically having free 13s gap.

        1. Even Hamilton himself mentioned in the press conference, that the supersofts would not have lasted him to the end @sonicslv. And it was not “mercedes holding him out” but a strategy Hamilton was involved in.

          1. @bascb I don’t blame Mercedes here because I know there are discussions between the pit and Hamilton. Still, don’t you think its weird not pitting him right after Rosberg if they only have soft in mind, considering he doing great job in 2nd stint. Even prolonging the stint should only for 1-2 laps and after Rosberg made it clear that he lapping faster on new softs, they should pit Hamilton right away.

    2. He had the choice, but the data suggested even if he made up the gap the supers would have been dead from doing so.

      The only chance for Hamilton was a safety car. Rosberg was running an ideal race.

      1. @philipgb Well yes and no. My point is at that time (already losing 13s gap to Rosberg) putting (used) supersoft is much better gamble than putting on (new) soft. At least on it he have much better chance to get into Rosberg DRS before the race ended and justify the free 13s gap he gives to Rosberg. Whether he can pass Rosberg or the tires give up first doesn’t really matter. He never had a chance with softs even if SC came around. It was the worst strategy they can give to Hamilton. We talking about 2 drivers that at worst is only 0.5s apart and the strategy is asking one of them to drive 1.2-1.4s per lap faster here.

        Kudos for Rosberg for having great drive btw.

        1. WEll, yeah, but he would have to take everything out of those supersofts to get anywhere near Rosberg. And then he wouldn’t have anything left to actually pass. And at worst it might have even given Kimi a chance if the tyres were completely destroyed.

          Sure, it might have been fun and provided us some wow moments, but it would not have been anythign sensible or logical to do. Thing is, Hamilton shoudn’t have lost as much time in his first stint, then he would have been closer in the second stint, and had either been able to pass Rosberg instead of just getting close, or he could have managed his tyres to either last to the finish or go for a late stop onto the supersofts but not as far behind.

          As Ted Kravitz now mentioned, Vettel had graining issues on his supersofts and those were unused ones and Ferrari had been better on their ssofts too, so its all but certain using them would have been a good choice.

          1. I think the main point here and the second stint really hammers this home is why did they leave him out? As we all know and the strategist should know better than us it was not even a realistic strategy.

          2. @bascb I think you missed my point since the beginning. The question is not “Why they not put super soft on Hamilton?” but “Why they not put supersoft AFTER they made him out long enough for supersoft strategy?” The difference on those 2 questionis huge. Everyone that watched the race is questioning the same thing, and so far you just said Hamilton won’t last in super softs (which whether true or not is not really important in this debate really because Mercedes will still have their 1-2 finish and Raikkonen chance to pass Hamilton is really low even if the tires went off the cliff)

            Also Hamilton did actually ask the team if he could extend 2nd stint until finish and the team said it’s impossible. And it seems on this race the team kept Rosberg gap and pace information from Hamilton.

          3. @sonicslv

            The gap to Rosberg was shrinking. By the time they had left him out long enough on the soft that there was few enough laps left to complete on the supers, the gap after a pit stop would have been too large to overcome.

            They were trying to juggle the numbers on the spot to find something that may be better than a strategy they’d spent the weekend tuning and the best chance they could land on was putting him back on soft and them Hamilton being a second a lap faster until the end. They will have juggled the numbers for going on supers as well and it still wouldn’t have come out with a quick enough stint to do it.

            This is why there’s no point in teams trying to beat themselves on strategy. Worse case scenario you throw a position away to the car behind, which was a very real risk in Brazil. Best case scenario you give an unfair win to a driver like in Monaco.

            The drivers have their chance to be on the privileged strategy either in qualifying or getting ahead before the pitstop. If they can’t do that then they have the chance by being faster on their inlap. And if they can’t do that then it’s simple, they are beaten. Rolling the dice for a pot luck result that the initial strategy turned out not to be the best doesn’t make sense unless you are trying to beat another team.

  23. Didn’t blow my socks off but the race had a story 6/10

    I think the thing detractors miss when not seeing the difference between this and a 3 or 4 out of 10 race is that it’s not always about number of passes or gripping wheel to wheel racing. Those are the 8+ out of 10 races. It’s about the drivers not just settling into a processional race. Hamilton never got a move lined up on Rosberg, but there was strategy playing out.

    This race had entertaining moments, Button and Verstappen being the highlight.

  24. A standard race, 6/10, don’t understand what Merc were doing with their strategy. Great race from Romain and Button. Great season for Perez beating Hulk for the 1st time. Great season for Vettel, he’ll be surely going to add new wins to his tally and that 5th championship next year……………..hopefully.

    Overall I give the 2015 season 6/10.

  25. 6. An OK race with a spectacular 1st lap.

  26. 7/10 – felt better about the race than reading some fans complaining about it.
    It wasn’t the best, not by far, but there were enough interesting parts and good drives.
    Well done Nico R. and a super start by Sainz.

    1. For a race at Abu Dhabi, I think it was pretty good yeah @coldfly!

  27. This race failed to keep me interested. 5/10

    I’m already tired of watching the stupid light show around the track for the 7th time now! I want to see real racing, not irrelevant UAE tourism advertisement. The track is dull, and good action is impossible there : overtaking is difficult, but it happens it’s predictable and all of them are similar. It just felt like I was watching the same overtaking every time (which felt even worse after I watched the GP2 race). In fact, the worst aspect about this race is that it was predictable from lap 2 or 3, and that’s not what I want to see in F1 : I want to see the opposite. I want F1 to surprise me, and be unpredictable.

  28. Matt (@hamiltonfan1705)
    29th November 2015, 15:25

    First part of the race saw a lot of action. Died down in the second half but reasonable end to a lackluster season.

  29. Not bad by Abu Dhabi standards. 6 out of 6 (the most I’m prepared to award for that track) for an action-packed first lap, but then a typical 2015 event with not enough competition at the sharp end, over-cautious strategies, and most of the passing explained by the age or choice of tyres on the two cars.

  30. Have to say I enjoyed the battles throughout the field, but after a very promising opening it just dwindled down into a regular race. Except this one was littered with wide angles, shots of celebs, girlfriends, mom and more wide angles.

    6/10. This is the first season in a while where I’m not lamenting that the season is over..

    1. Sorry internet hiccup…5 for me…..was not good…highlight was Christian Horner hinting his nxt yrs engine maybe Honda….

  31. 6/10. It was an ok race, more or less what we can expect from 2015. This season is over, hopefully next year it’ll be more competitive.
    I liked the celebrations after the race: fireworks, drivers laying down some rubber etc. Really good atmosphere.

  32. 5. It started brilliantly. The first stint was great. DRS wasn’t even too bad for the most part. However from then on it just went downhill.

  33. 3, Is Lewis looking to quit F1.
    He looks bored and unattached from the whole circus, been there done that.. time for new challenges ?

  34. It wasn’t a particularly exciting race. It had a lot of ‘something might happen’… But nothing ever did. Like a lot of races this season.

    Have to admit I didn’t enjoy last season that much and this one was worse. I’m really hopeful 2016 will be more interesting but as it stands I might just wait for 2017.

  35. Nick (@theawesomefish)
    29th November 2015, 16:03

    6/10 from me. Decent story to follow with the Merc strategy, few sporadic scraps here and there throughout the field, plus the Alo/Mal incident at Turn One. However – as with the vast majority of races this season – at no point was there anything to make me go “wow”, nothing that was worth paying attention to for a great amount of time. Even after Vettel qualified down in 16th, which became 15th on the starting grid, I knew he would end up somewhere near the podium, and sure enough, he finished the race in 4th. You have to admit that if Raikkonen had gotten his act together earlier in the season, we would have had at least half the races this year finishing with the Mercedes and Ferraris locking out the top four spots.

    I just cannot get excited for Formula One anymore, not when I know more or less how the front of the race will finish in advance.

  36. I thought drivers had to weigh in at the end with helmet etc yet Nico clearly did not do that leaving his helmet on the car!!
    Not that I suggest it should affect the result but surely until that was done he could not be officially confirmed as the winner

    1. So long as the helmet and stuff got weighed with the car, it’ll be fine; it’s the combined weight of car and driver that matters.

  37. 5/10

    Mercedes ruined Lewis chances to win in the season final, sick Mercedes strategy, shame on them for stopping the show.

    1. Hamilton tried a different strategy and it failed, so that makes Mercedes evil? Even though Hamilton was involved with the choices the whole way?

      1. @raceprouk how can you explain to me that Merc pitted Rosberg just before being overtaken ?

        1. Obvious: so he didn’t hold Hamilton up.

          1. @raceprouk are you serious ? he was miles faster it was a few yards matter before he could have overtaken him, you seems to forget that the first driver pit first and that he would have lost that advantage had he been overtaken by Lewis.

          2. Are you forgetting how difficult it is for someone to overtake an identical car? As has been proven countless times these last two seasons?

          3. @raceprouk not in this kind of tracks with its two DRS zones and with power deficit on Rosbergs engine, I think after Austin Mercedes wanted to reprimand Lewis on track so he thinks of Mercedes next time in his overtaking manoeuvres, Mercedes comes first, drivers in second.

          4. Or maybe they’re doing exactly what they’ve been doing for the last two years!

  38. Not bad for a number 2 driver. Not bad for a number 2 driver.

  39. 2/10. A bad race at a bad circuit in a bad country.
    Very good race by Rosberg, Hamilton, Kimi and of course Vettel.
    But anything more.

  40. I find it very hard to enjoy a race at this track. The lay-out in itself is just awful – now matter how sparkly and phallic your hotels are, it just doesn’t do it for me.

  41. I honestly think we could take out the human factor of having drivers in cars and replace them with robots because that is what we have at moment. To hell with team strategies, let drivers make their own decisions and then they can live or fail by them. At least we might see some proper racing!!

    1. And remove the whole team aspect of F1?

    2. Hamilton should rewatch Spa 2012 to see the result of letting your team split it’s strategies to pit one half of the garage against the other.

      Drivers do to some degree get to overule their strategist. Hamilton has on plenty of occasions said his tyres feel good and extended a stint.

      1. Split strategies? Like how Vettel managed to pass car after car, while Webber was stuck behind Hülkenberg for the entire race?

        1. Eh?

          Why would I be talking about Vettel and Webber in regards to something to do with Hamilton.

  42. I went to Homebase to buy paint. I think that sums up this season for me.

    1. Hold onto that paint until next season; then you can watch it dry. Probably be more exciting than another Mercedes romp.

      1. Sound advice. There was a 3-for-2 offer on, so I’ll save the extra tin for next season.

        1. Put an HD camera on John H and I’ll watch him watching paint dry, and it’ll still be better than most of this season.

  43. Abu Dhabi will be Abu Dhabi. I really can not use the proper word as it would not be fit for a comments section. This track is one of the one worst on the calender if not the worst. Mark Webber was right.

    1. I have been saying this for years & especially since it got it’s guaranteed final race spot on the calendar.
      It is the absolute worst race track for a finale showdown. Horrible layout, Those double left right chicanes are horrible for overtaking. Biggest thing of all, unlike Brazil there is never a chance of changeable weather to give a climatic finish.

      I understand teams have their end of season test there but that does not mean it actually needs to be the last race.

      (no I did not watch the race, couldnt care less. F1 fan since 1998, who watched ever race in the past)

  44. 3/10 All in all it was an averagely boring race in an averagely boring season.
    I had high hopes for 2017, tear up the rule book kinda thing but its looking like more of the same… only a bit different :(

  45. In 2014 after Nico’s costly attempt to overtake LH during lap 1 at Spa, the Mercedes team coalesced around Lewis for the remaining of the season, leading him to his WDC # 2.

    This year, after Lewis pushed NR offtrack at the first corner of the opening lap in Austin, I have the distinction impression that Mercedes decided to support Nico. Especially because the championships were decided.

    It seems to me that Mercedes treats Lewis differently since Austin in order to show that they, the team, comes first and they will not tolerate lack of “team spirit” as ludicrous as that might seem in F1.

    1. Distinct impression

  46. I was not ale to inspire myself to get out of bed to watch this race. The first in many many years. Kind of anticipated the result and it was exactly the same. I think the only incident of the race with Alonso/Pastor incident and Bottas Pit release incident.

    Not fair for me to rate the race. I will watch it on my DVR sometime later. But I kind of think the rating will be around 4 or 5.

    1. I would just saying the Boring end to a Boring season !!!!

  47. 4/10, An awful season, glad its over. I’m with Alonso, depending on how testing goes, i may opt out of watching this guff next year.

    1. @emu55 Right there with you. I have to seriously consider whether it’s worth investing time in Formula 1 anymore. The combination of DRS and tyre strategy is the worst thing that has ever happened to Formula 1. Mind numbing doesn’t even begin to describe this race.

      The only thing that can save 2016 is Mercedes, Ferrari and Redbull all fighting for the same patch of asphalt.

      Oh, and congrats to Rosberg on winning three races on the trot and putting a 3 time world champion in his place. I true inspiration and a lesson in not giving up and always looking forward. Many a driver would’ve been broken after what Lewis did to Rosberg.

  48. I hate Yas Marina.

  49. 2/10

    Laps 1 and 2 were ok, but once DRS kicked in, it was an absolute snoozefest.
    Also, this thing with Mercedes at the end was building up to be a good finish, but that petered out too. I was thinking it might be a repeat of Bahrain last year, but I was sorely disappointed.

    Truth be told, and I’ve said this before, but I’ve really started to lose interest in F1 these days. I’ve watched for 20 years now, but lately I can’t be bothered. I used to watch every session and the extra programmes and things, but today, slept in, missed the start of the race, and didn’t even care. When I did tune in, I hardly paid much attention to the race, and to be honest, that makes me a bit sad.

  50. There’s a lot of stuff the sport’s not getting right at the moment, a huge amount – but sitting pretty right at the top of the pile, wearing a crown made of fools gold, is the sodding DRS.

    1. Amen. DRS is killing the sport. There’s no racing worth watching anymore so what’s the point? I’m still interested in who wins but i can save myself the time and read the results on websites like this.

  51. Probably the most mind boggling part of the race was the Sky team towards the end, before Lewis came in for his last stop. Brundle, Kravitz and Croft all were talking about the possibility of Mercedes pitting both Hamiltonn AND Rosberg – you know for safety against Raikkonen. Not even bothering to thing, with 15 or so laps to go, that doing that would guarantee a Hamilton victory, and there was pretty much zero chance of Rosberg pitting.

    Face palm, smh. There’s an art to filling in for lack of action on the track (or field) with commentary.

  52. Really tempting to just give this race a 1/10 out of pure frustration. This race had everything in it that’s wrong with F1 nowadays. Mercedes fixing the race and making sure their drivers won’t fight on track, hardly any overtaking except for the first lap, after which it became a procession once again with the occasional dull DRS overtake here and there, and again absolutely ridiculous and inconsistent decisions by the stewarts. Not to mention the obvious stupidity of these tyres and engines. Pretty much sums up the whole season. Can’t remember ever being sort of relieved the season is over before, wow.

  53. Wow what a poor race to finish the season.
    A special mention to Mercedes for yet again doing their best to make it super boring
    2/10

  54. Potential intrigue turned into another forgettable race and somewhat confirmed the suspicion that Mercedes has been trying to help Nico along. It seems whatever development direction they took around Singapore was designed to drag him out of his doldrums so he could cement 2nd, along with the requirement of both cars having by and large the same strategy so he wouldn’t complain so much. Lewis’ strategy seemed to be more ‘see, we’re honestly not micromanaging their races’ then a serious attempt at beating Nico.

    And so ends 2015, a by and large forgettable season like 2013.

  55. It was a fairly mundane end to a year that has seen some amazing racing in the US, Singapore and Hungary and some that are more forgettable. Such is the ebb and flow of F1, though.

    The first lap promised to deliver some cracking laps and brilliant competition, but it never really panned out. Highlights were definitely watching moments of brilliant technical racing from Vettel, Verstappen, Sainz, Button and Ricciardo.. But Hamilton clearly has lost the eye of the tiger in these past few races. When there’s nothing left to play for.. I suppose that happens.

    All in all.. 2015 wasn’t that bad of a season. There hasn’t been a race as good as the USGP in quite a while and we got to enjoy some fantastic rookie talent unveiled at Torro Rosso this year.

  56. I gave it a 6. And contrary to many others here, I find this circuit quite OK and its DRS zones a great addition. Why? read on…

    Let’s say you run with a very fast engine. The DRS zones allow you to get close and then in this or the next zone pass the slower cars. It’s great to have a fast car! And I think it’s good to see faster cars pass slower cars even though it doesn’t seem to take a whole lot of skill. Without DRS, marginally faster cars would not be able to pass and get stuck, spoiling the race.

    Let’s say you run with a slower-on-the-straights car that is better in twisty parts of the circuit. You get close to the faster car in the first sector, close enough for the DRS activation. At turn 7 there are two options. The normal option is to enter on the right side because that launches you onto the straight the quickest. BUT, going left allows you to cut in front of that faster car, activate DRS and keep ahead. If you didn’t cut in front, DRS allows you to remain close and when the faster-car-driver makes a mistake, you can get them at the end of the straight. Two chances of that here where outbraking or better steering can get you ahead of the person making the mistake.

    We also some overtakes in turn 14, where drivers making mistakes in turns 11-13 apparantly can get passed.

    What i disliked the most where the actions from the stewards, penalizing Alonso, Bottas and Verstappen. Bottas was already out of the race by losing his front wing. Unsafe release by the team should get the team a penalty, not the driver. Alonso was clearly catapulted into Maldonado by one of the Sauber’s. And Verstappen… his penalty points are very harsh compared to what we’ve seen with other drivers.

  57. Just another dreary 2015 round on a crap circuit in a crap location.
    The only interesting parts were watching how well RBR and MacLaren handle the twisty bits.

  58. 3rd race in a row I stopped watching a decent chunk before the end of the race and the top 10 was largely the same. I am so tired of modern F1. Still, this race was better than the last 2 dreadful races.

  59. I switched over to the tennis after the first pit stops, so haven’t even watched the full race yet and didn’t vote.
    I’ll watch the rest of the race on catch-up, but it doesn’t sound like I missed anything.

  60. It was a decidedly average race. Far better than some of the snorefests we’ve had this year. Solid 6/10 for me. I especially enjoyed Verstappen battling with Button, even though the stewards felt the need to meddle with it all.

  61. Gave it 9. As i see now I am in very lonely minority.

    But reasons are simple… Race was fun for me. Vettel was doing an amazing race, there were proper clashes with Verstapen… Also Verstapen and Button… And then the rivalies…

    Vettel letting Kimi pass first time on his own… checking on radio if that was the plan right?

    And second time… Vettel not letting the Kimmster pass until ordered to do so.

    Then there was Lewis Hamilton da Strategist… :P For once Mercedes gave him Strategist hat and he proved to all armchair experts that alternative strategies are just that… alternative.

    I am very happy with result. my favourite this year Vettel managed to claw back nearly all places… in my mind he would easily be third yet again If he started from third,..

    But much more happier I am with Lewis finishing second. Because he has a voice that British viewers and decision makers will listen to. He will speak on glaring issue of following another car in F1, of tires that degrade… of inherently poor ruleset we currently have. None of these issues are power-plant related.

    Remarkable also Nico on high millage Merc unit managed to win,… I know if Lewis won nobody would listen to Nico saying its impossible to follow, but this way we have a chance to influence rule-makers for stuff to change.

    I still remember when Alonso was stuck behind Petrov in Abu-Dhabi… Heads rolled and stuff was stired and DRS was born. *facepalm I know*. I am sure if Lewis will speak out more and more (and he will when he cannot win because of it, very reliable them racing drivers) things will change.

  62. Gave it a 5.. Start was great.. Loved Vettel’s drive

    Excellent atmopshere at the track, loved the visuals.. Good to see the stands full..

    The standards set by the organisers are great, the garage and the hospitality area are awesome, compared to the ghetto standards of Brazil Tracks..

  63. interesting start, interesting first 3 laps then DRS began to make its usual ruining of racing. Not long needed for Mercedes powered cars starting to push down Ferrari, Honda and Renault powered cars (except Ferrari itself). Penalties for racing incidents…Penalty for Bottas was uncalled for aswell, because he was punished enough with another pitstop for change of FW. Not the worst GP this year but still below average. I gave it generous 5/5 because i rested myself with sleeping during the race…If not for racing, F1 will become very interesting people that have problems with sleeping, 15 laps of monotonus racing and DRS overtaking and u sleep like a baby.

  64. I gave it a 6. The first few laps were fantastic, but when there is no proper fight for the podium positions, it is hard to get excited about. Drivers should be free to use whatever tyres they choose based on what works for them. Having to use both compounds doesn’t lead to enough variation in strategy that this race could have done with.

    The circuit could do with some changes, remember in 2011 when they were supposed to do this then bailed on that idea? Disappointing. Of course, the fundamental problems with F1 these days are a combination of unfair distribution of funds (therefore uncompetitiveness) DRS, and answers being given to questions nobody asked (e.g double points, wanting to have safety car restarts from the grid etc). Sort out the funding distribution and remove DRS. That will go a long way to fixing the sport

  65. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    30th November 2015, 14:30

    5/10. What went wrong with Hamilton’s gap, as he could have catched Rosberg in the final laps?

  66. 7/10
    Thankfully we had Vettel start 15th. He battled with Perez and Ricciardo on strategy, and only even seeing him close to Mercedes and Raikkonen albeit one pit stop down made the race more pleasant. Williams’ mistakes enlivened the race to their drivers’ disadvantage, Sainz and Verstappen were always attacking, Hamilton wanted to do of his own accord and his strategic decisions left me wondering, Button and Grosjean provided some excitement which their team mates couldn’t, only the two Manors were unseen.

  67. I gave the race a 6 as that is what I rated the last two races and I didn’t think this was any worse than those two Grand Prix, but I must admit I was really bored watching this race.

    It was another case of the winner being decided after the first lap and with Rosberg pulling a gap in the first stint it didn’t look as if Hamilton would even be close to challenge unlike the previous GP, however when Hamilton closed up before Rosberg’s second stop I thought there could be a battle for the victory but the strategy Hamilton went with after that ruled it out.

    Normally when there is no drama at the front the action elsewhere in the race is enough for me, but even though there seemed to be quite a few overtakes overall it just did nothing for me and I was glad when the race finished to be honest.

    I don’t know who decided on it but I thought Hamilton’s strategy was very strange.

    After the start and with Rosberg pulling away in the first stint I thought there was no chance of a battle for the win but when Hamilton closed right up just before Rosberg’s second stop I briefly thought something might happen.

    I thought Hamilton would pit the next lap but when they kept him out I thought they would have a few extra laps so to have fresher tyres at the end, but when it became obvious how much quicker Rosberg was going to then keep Hamilton out for as long as they did and then to bring him in when he had such a big gap to make up made no sense.

    If they had changed to supersofts at the last stop or if they had tried to convert to a one stop I would have understood that, they would have both been risky strategies which probably wouldn’t have resulted in a victory but both were better than the one they went with.

    After the race I thought the only possible reasons for the strategy were, either the team didn’t want the two cars near each other on track or they had decided to give Hamilton an alternative strategy to show him just how far behind he would be if he didn’t listen to the team after all the fuss made in the last couple of races about Hamilton wanting a different strategy.

    There was no magic strategy that would have given Hamilton the lead coming out of the pits but I think there were ones which would have allowed him to challenge Rosberg on track for the victory.

    I think a good on track battle would have been better for Mercedes in PR terms than another carefully managed one two finish, and obviously it would be better for us fans too.

  68. The race was quite dull. It was nice seeing Vettel getting back up the field but that’s about it. Alonso crashing with Maldonaldo. i was hoping that the safety car would deploy when bottas front wing was damaged, the other half might fall off on the track, sadly it did not. I Would love to see Hamilton putting on the option tyres for his final stint but that did not happen which was a dissapointment. Just hope for a better 2016 season! The even number years tend to be exciting in this decade.

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